{"id":2456472,"date":"2020-03-29T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-29T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=323360"},"modified":"2020-03-29T11:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-03-29T17:00:00","slug":"mountain-mayhem-a-birds-eye-view","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/mountain-mayhem-a-birds-eye-view\/","title":{"rendered":"Mountain Mayhem: A bird\u2019s eye view"},"content":{"rendered":"
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As we adhere to the rules of social distancing these days, one way to stay upbeat is by finding solace in nature. I was recently speaking with my dear friend Christy Mahon, development director at the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies (ACES), about ways to be creative with topics for this weekly social column and she cleverly suggested I look to nature and specifically birding to showcase a \u201cwho\u2019s who\u201d in the bird world around us. While it\u2019s a bit of a departure from highlighting people, it certainly seemed like a cute idea, as well as a great way to learn more about our ecosystem.<\/p>\n

Christy connected me with Rebecca Weiss, a naturalist at ACES who specializes in birding, botany and interpretive program development. \u201cPeople are looking to nature for cheer, therapy and well-being,\u201d Weiss said. Despite uncertainty in society right now, \u201cnature is continuing to do its thing and we can tune into it,\u201d such as noticing the birds above and around us, which are even more accessible these days with less noise, less traffic and fewer distractions.<\/p>\n

In 2018, Weiss published a field guide with fellow birder and longtime local Mark Fuller titled \u201cBirds of Aspen and the Roaring Fork Valley.\u201d It\u2019s not only become a helpful handbook, but also a great success on the local bestseller book lists with close to 2,000 copies sold. When the stores reopen, you can find it in Aspen at ACES, Explore Booksellers and the Ute Mountaineer. They chose photos from their book to share here \u2014 all birds you can find in this habitat.<\/p>\n

\u201cActivities that don\u2019t require close contact, like birding, have been recommended as good ways to get outdoors and enjoy nature during the coronavirus emergency,\u201d Fuller noted. \u201cIt is also something that can be done from indoors if there is a window onto any kind of natural habitat.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t need binoculars to go birding,\u201d Mahon added. \u201cThey\u2019re helpful, but not necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBirds can make your heart flutter when you see them,\u201d added Weiss. \u201cYou feel a connection with them and the way they sing.\u201d Along those lines, people tend to develop favorites, of which Mahon shared a few from locals.<\/p>\n

Writer Tim Mutrie is partial to the great horned owl while Caribou Club owner Billy Stolz has a soft spot for the cedar waxwing. Pro skier Chris Davenport is excited to see all of the mountain bluebirds near his family\u2019s \u201cnest\u201d on Capitol Creek Road. ACES\u2019 Naturalist Program Director Jim Kravitz keeps an eye out for the red-winged blackbirds and Aspen Mountain ski instructor John Phillips takes note of the robins when they arrive in the spring. Rebecca Weiss loves too many birds to count, but at the moment has taken a liking to the golden crown kinglet, which lives here year-round. Her son Anders loves hummingbirds, which arrive in May, and her daughter Elsie is fond of the American robin, which sings beautiful songs loudly in the morning.<\/p>\n

Visit https:\/\/www.aspennature.org\/<\/a><\/i> for information about birds in our valley and to say abreast of when their Naturalist programs are scheduled to return.<\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As we adhere to the rules of social distancing these days, one way to stay upbeat is by finding solace in nature. I was recently speaking with my dear friend Christy Mahon, development director at the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies (ACES), about ways to be creative with topics for this weekly social column and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2456472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-18 07:12:26","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2456472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2456472"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2456472\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2456472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2456472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2456472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}